Wilbur Cross Wins Two Theater Awards

The Zoom meeting filled fast Tuesday evening with about 15 Wilbur Cross students — half the cast from Lights Up Drama Club​‘s spring production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. The students had gathered together virtually for the online ceremony for the Halo Awards, for excellence in high school theater across the state of Connecticut. Their production of How to Succeed had been nominated in five categories. It would win two.

Sponsored by Seven Angels Theater, the Halo Awards ​“honor high school students’ achievements in all aspects of theatre,” according to the Halo Awards’ website. ​“Awards are given in numerous categories including: best actor and actress in a musical/play, best supporting actor and actress in a musical/play, best performance by the cast in an ensemble production, best comic actor and actress in a musical/play, best student choreographer, plus categories for lighting, design, stage management, special effects, and many more.”

Over 80 high schools in Connecticut participated in the Halo Awards this year. ​“Because of the shortened school year,” the website explained, ​“not all musicals and plays were performed.”

That was true of Wilbur Cross High School’s production, as the school closed due to the pandemic in March, just before what was to be the play’s opening weekend. In the play’s final rehearsals, though, ​“we were able to video the performance. So we submitted the recording,” said Heather Bazinet, the play’s co-director with Salvatore DeLucia. Many of the competing schools are ​“private schools, or they’re arts focused magnet schools,” Bazinet continued. ​“We know we don’t have the budget of a lot of those places, and our kids don’t always have the training that some of those kids have.” In addition, Bazinet said, though ​“there were definitely other schools that were not able to perform,” some schools ​“do two shows a year. So for their fall show, they were able to submit their fall show for adjudication.”

And yet, ​“five of our individual kids were nominated,” Bazinet said. Manny Gonzales was up for best featured actor, for his performance as J.B. Biggley. Millie Carlson, as Hedy LaRue, was up for best featured actress. Eli Wells, as Bud Frump, was up for best supporting actor. Brandon Oliveras, as J. Pierrepont Finch, was up for best leading actor. And Kate VanTassel, as Rosemary, was up for best leading actress.

This year marked the second year Lights Up Drama Club submitted its production for the Halo Awards. Last year, its production of Sister Act netted seven Halo nominations and two students won: Melissa Cislia for best supporting actress in a musical and Brianna Chance for best actress.

The awards ceremony is usually held at the Palace Theater in Waterbury. Theatre capacity restrictions due to the pandemic made that impossible. Instead, Seven Angels theater moved the awards ceremony to a live stream on YouTube. And Bazinet and DeLucia decided to host a Zoom meeting so the Wilbur Cross students could watch it together.

“I am so proud of them. Because clearly the hard work that they put into it stood up,” Bazinet said. ​“That’s what it’s all about…. Especially under the circumstances.”

In March, as the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic became clearer and more serious, and school shutdowns were imminent, the last week of rehearsals were thrown into chaos. ​“We had a half hour rehearsal on Monday” of the week before the school closed, Bazinet said. That day, Bazinet and DeLucia believed that Lights Up might still be able to squeeze in a performance or two. But ​“I got a call from Sal on the way to work on Tuesday and he said we had been cancelled,“ Bazinet said. That afternoon ​“we had to tell the kids.”

“They kind of knew already. They kind of felt the vibe,” she added.

At the time Bazinet and DeLucia held out hope that the production might still be staged later in the spring. So Lights Up rehearsed Wednesday and Thursday.

“We got special permission to be in the building, to rehearse and record,” Bazinet said. ​“Even without the amount of rehearsal we were supposed to have, they still did it.”

And The Winner Is

For the few who had a chance to see the production of How to Succeed, before Wilbur Cross was closed, the number of nominations wasn’t too surprising. The musical is an ensemble piece full of roles that gave the Cross students a chance to shine, and represented Lights Up’s most ambitious musical yet.

Yet the students were quiet as soon as Halo Awards host Michelle Gotay took the stage and announced the first group of awards. Among them was the award for best featured actor. Gonzales was in the running with eight other actors from around the state who had been nominated — and emerged victorious. The Zoom meeting exploded with cheers and applause and its chat box filled with congratulations. ​“So proud of all of you!” DeLucia typed. ​“Manny … love you kid.”

Gonzales was gracious. ​“Thank you!” he typed. ​“I owe it all to you guys.”

VanTassel, Wells, and Carlson may not have won in their categories, but were good-natured all the same; the old saying that it was an honor to be nominated, after all, held true. In between award presentations, the attendees were regaled by theater professionals from all over the country, including Chazz Palminteri and Lou Diamond Phillips. All offered encouragement and advice to the young actors who quite possibly would soon become their peers.

“It must seem like your dreams are flying away out of reach,” said Elizabeth Shapiro, director of the Connecticut Office of the Arts, about the effects of the pandemic in darkening theaters everywhere. ​“Keep the artistic creative spirit alive and share it with the world, because your world is going to need you like never before.”

Actor Dan Lauria elaborated on that message; theaters may be dark now, but in his view, he was hopeful that the delay only meant that ​“we’ll be working together” when some of the students became professionals. He reminded the audience that theater has always persevered through hard times in history. ​“This time, you’ll be the ones that will bring it back.”

As the awards for set design rolled by, DeLucia offered an aspiration. ​“Cross will be in this category next year,” he typed in the meeting’s chatbox.

At last, the award for best actor in a musical was presented — and Oliveras won. This time the congratulations were in all caps. ​“CONGRATS BRANDON!!!” Wells typed, echoing the sentiments of everyone else.

“THANK YOU SO MUCH ALL OF YOU” Oliveras typed back.

The awards ceremony ended shortly afterward, and everyone on the Zoom meeting lingered to talk. It was the first time they had all gotten together since the shutdown.

“Nice work, everyone. You never cease to amaze me, all of you,” DeLucia said.

Wilbur Cross Principal Edith Johnson, who was in on the call, echoed him. ​“I’m so proud of all of you,” she said. ​“This was the best night. So where’s the party?” That got a laugh.

“I’m always so in awe of what you do,” DeLucia continued. ​“This was a crazy year, having the show that wasn’t a show — but it was, because we had five nominations and two awards. I couldn’t consider myself any luckier of a human being…. This is hard, but it’s just a bump in the road. For my seniors, you guys are going on to bigger, better, exciting things. You’re going to do such great things.”

Wells mentioned that he ​“was reading through the scripts, and I was reminiscing.”

“I love all of you,” he added. He made a heart with his hands.

“Anyone have anything else?” Bazinet said.

All the students made hearts with their hands.

What The Future Holds

“It’s been hard for us going back into the building. We were allowed back in to clean up,” Bazinet said. ​“When I walked in, one of the assistant principals was sitting there. She said, ​‘it’s like a time capsule.’” The set and props were in the auditorium where Lights Up had left them. ​“I had to go into the dressing room and pick up costumes and things the kids had left,” Bazinet said. ​“I packed up their stuff and brought it to their house. That was hard — that was really hard.”

Lights Up is already looking to what will happen in mounting a production next year, amid a great deal of uncertainty regarding how Wilbur Cross — a 1,600-student school — will operate overall in the fall.

“We just have to wait and see what’s going to be allowed,” Bazinet said. ​“We may be able to do something late spring next year. I don’t anticipate anything earlier than that because we’re not going to be able to have people together.”

Lights Up Drama Club will also need to raise funds ​“because we had no ticket sales, no concessions — none of that,” from How to Succeed in Business. ​“We rely on sales to pay our people, pay for our costumes. We run a really lean budget. We don’t get a lot of funding from the district. It’s going to take a little while to recoup.”

Among the blessings Bazinet counts: ​“We have a team of incredibly talented people. And our administrators are super-supportive. Our principal will go to bat for us.” Lights Up also has a grant from the Jamie Hulley Arts Foundation, which lets the club pay its music director.

At the same time, dealing with adversity is not new to Lights Up, which rebuilt the high school’s drama program from scratch in 2018.

“Every year is different and presents its own challenges. We’ll get there,” Bazinet said. ​“I’m determined to find some way for our kids to perform, no matter what we do or when we do it. That’s what we’re all about.”

And meanwhile, the Halo awards were something to savor. ​“Somebody noticed the work the kids did, and that’a a big deal,” Bazinet said.